October - EAA Chapter 25
Transcription
October - EAA Chapter 25
EAA CHAPTER 25 MINNEAPOLIS / ST PAUL, MN OCTOBER 2003 Red Barons FlyYoung Eagles by Mike Dolan see page 4 MSP’s Spirit of St. Louis Refurbishing the Replica by Noel Allard M any of you may wonder about the “Spirit of St. Louis” replica that hangs at the MSP terminal. Is it a real airplane? Does it have a real working engine? Where did it come from? I can answer some of those questions, from personal experience. The plane is a non-flying replica. In fact, it is a big model airplane, built not unlike those slab-sided Guil(Continued on page 5) lows models we all used to build back Cleared for Takeoff Pat Halligan October Meeting/November Banquet MN Hall of Fame To Induct Six Noel Allard P2 P3 p3 Ed Sampson of Belview, Minnesota with real wings he built for the replica National Air Tour Photos Norm Tesmar Events/Fly-ins, Stuff for Sale/Wanted Chapter 25 Sponsors p6 p7 p8 Cleared for Takeoff by Pat Halligan T wo really exciting developments from this year’s fund raiser/raffle happened on the night of the drawing. First, one of our members (Gary Rene) won the grand prize. Then Gary asked if he could have a check instead of the vehicle, because he wanted to give half of the money back to the chapter. After talking to Mark G. and working with his people at Apple Valley Ford they decided they could make it happen and they did. WOW!!! Gary is going to buy flight instruments for the aircraft he is building with his half of the money. The chapter will spend its half wisely. Maybe two tickets to Hawaii in January for the overworked chapter President would be nice. I guess that would be nice, but not wise. It looks like a metal ceiling with insulation for the hangar. We will be doing an article on Gary and his aircraft next month, and he also wants us to have our monthly meeting in November or December at his house so he can show us the work he has been doing on his aircraft. We will be there Gary, just let Jackie know we are coming. The generosity of members (not just monetarily, but time, material, etc…) leaves me just about speechless. THANKS to all. We sold a fair number of tickets to the November awards banquet at the last monthly meeting, but I’m hoping more members will check their calendars and purchase their tickets as soon as possible. Check out the banquet info in this newsletter. The food should be good, the price is right and most of our spouses would love having a day off from cooking. Just ask them if you think I’m kidding. My wife’s favorite thing to make for dinner is “ Reservations”. Oh! by the way, our guest speaker for the evening will be none other than Alan Klapmeier, CEO and President Cirrus Design. Give Ron Oehler a call for tickets. We had a great time giving Young Eagle rides at Cambridge Sunday. As the original Y.E. project comes to an end with the December 17th anniversary I would like you to start thinking about groups of youngsters who wouldn’t otherwise have a snowballs chance in he_ _ (heck) of going for an airplane ride, being made aware of our offer to get them airborne. Maybe some inner city kids or handicapped youngsters. Let me know what you think. Speaking of letting me know, you may have noticed with more members and larger turnouts at the meetings things can get kind of hectic. By the end of the night two dozen people have given me ideas and I’m likely to forget a few things if I haven’t written them down. I ask your help by sending me an email after the meeting as a follow up on the subjects we talked about. That way I can serve you and the chapter better, and two months from now I’m not scratching my head trying to remember who promised the chapter a color TV. I’m working on my listening skills, I just wish I could do something about my memory. You did an excellent job bringing in new members this past summer. Now that the cooler weather is here, please don’t let up. Happy Landings, Pat ON FINAL is published monthly by Chapter 25 of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) for the use, education and enjoyment of Chapter members and others to whom it is provided. No claim is made for the accuracy of materials presented. Editorial content is the opinion of the contributor and does not necessarily reflect the position of Chapter 25 nor EAA. Submissions for publication are encouraged and should be addressed to: Pete Gavin, 6905 12th Ave S., Richfield, MN 55423, phone (612) 866-6676 or via email to [email protected]. Submission deadline: 1st Wednesday of the month. New or renewal memberships ($20/year) should be addressed to: Ron Oehler, 36 Walden, Burnsville, MN 55337-3678, (952) 894-2332. Permission for other EAA Chapters to use the non-copyrighted portions of this publication is hereby given as long as the source is acknowledged. Any copyrighted material that appears in this newsletter is with the permission of the acknowledged copyright holder. Any further copying must obtain the permission of the original copyright holder. ON FINAL OCTOBER 2003 Minneapolis/St. Paul Visit our website at eaa25.com President Pat Halligan 651-452-7050 [email protected] Vice President Jeff Coffey 612-915-1725 [email protected] Secretary Greg Cardinal 612-721-6235 [email protected] Treasurer Chris Bobka 952-432-7969 [email protected] Membership Ron Oehler 952-894-2332 [email protected] Newsletter Editor Pete Gavin 612-866-6676 [email protected] Young Eagle Coordinator Mike Dolan 952-652-2436 [email protected] Technical Counselors Earl Adams 651-423-2973 Chris Bobka 952-432-7969 Dick Burns 952-473-1887 William Faulstich 612-722-6597 Bill Witt 651-633-8849 2 This Month—Oct 15th—Chapter Hangar-6 pm Grill hot at 6 pm, Meeting starts at 7:00 Chapter hangar 34A on India Ln at Air Lake (LVN) Food—Don’t forget to bring something to grill. Cold pop available for 50 cents donation. Side dishes, chips, cookies etc. to share would be very much appreciated by hungry members. Directions to Meeting: South on I-35 to Hwy 70 (Megastop), then East to Hamburg Ave (3rd stop sign.) Right turn and South to airport perimeter road. Left on airport perimeter road then right on Hotel or India Lane. Please park in open grass areas between hangars rather than in front of hangars. See you there! Reminder on Annual Dues—If you didn’t get a chance to renew in September, please make a note to bring $25 for 2004 dues Wednesday. Runway Ch 25 Awards Banquet-Sunday Nov 16, 6 p.m. New Time and Place—$15 Each Buy your tickets this Wed. night! We are making some changes to our annual awards banquet this year. We have found a new location with more reasonable prices and we have decided to move the banquet from Thursday to Sunday evening. The menu this year will include carved roast beef, chicken breast marsala, dutch potatoes, baby carrots, green beans, ceasar and pasta salads, rolls, coffee and punch. Eagan Community Center is located at 1501 Central Parkway 1 block north of Yankee Doodle road on Pilot Knob Road. MINNESOTA AVIATION HALL OF FAME TO INDUCT SIX September 27, 2003 NEWS RELEASE from Noel Allard Six Minnesota pioneers and aviation personalities have been selected for induction into the Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame for the year 2003. Being honored at an April 17, 2004 banquet and ceremony will be AUSTIN JAMES “JIM” BAILEY, JR., a WW II and Korean war Marine veteran and Corsair pilot. He later became an engineering test pilot for the Honeywell Corporation and his work on flight controls included carrier approach and landing tests, working with Canadian and Swedish governments, ON FINAL OCTOBER 2003 work on the Mercury space capsule controls, and SR-71, and X-20 Dyna Soar programs. ALBERT JAMES GRAZZINI, a WWII veteran, began a long career as an FBO, founding the successful Thunderbird Aviation business, with services at Flying Cloud, Crystal and Owatonna airports as well as at Phoenix, Arizona. He was one of the midwest’s premier Piper dealers, and served as an officer of the Minnesota Aviation (Continued on page 4) Trades Association. 3 MN Aviation Hall of Fame To Induct Six ( Continued from page 3) JACK J. LYSDALE, began his career in aviation as an FBO at Mankato and Worthington airports, became a WTS pilot training program during WWII, officing out of Victory Airport. He later represented the government in the sale of military planes back to the public, then, in 1949, started Lysdale Flying Service at Fleming Field, South St., Paul which is still running today as the State’s oldest family-owned FBO. Red Barons Fly Young Eagles (From page 1) The skies were alive east of St. Paul on September 17th. What was the “buzz”? It was media day for the Red Baron Pizza Squadron. Chapter 25’s president, Pat Halligan, made arrangements for eight rides with the Red Barons in their 1943 Boeing Stearman A75’s. He offered the rides to Eagan High School aviation students. Six of those students accepted the rides and rode with the Red Barons during their morning flights. The Squadron also offered an extra seat to Pat Halligan, who eagerly accepted. ARTHUR WRIGHT NOTEBOOM began flying in 1929, worked at the Mankato Airport, then worked for Ryan, Cessna and Martin companies before joining the Army Air Force and becoming a B-24 and C-46 ferry pilot. After the war, he ran a fly-in resort at Cleveland, Minnesota, then went to work for Jack Lysdale at Fleming Field, South St. Paul. Later he worked for Gopher Aviation, becoming an awardwinning Beechcraft salesman. CMSgt CLAYTON C. PYLE of Ortonville is a retired Navy and Air Force veteran who obtained the highest enlisted rank possible through his work on cruise missile and ICBM programs. In retirement, he has become one of Minnesota’s most active and respected promoters of military activities. He has worked hard on behalf of the University ROTC program, disabled and retired military veterans benefits, youth education, and legislative lobbying for veterans affairs. Pioneer OTTO W. TIMM was born in Lakefield, Minnesota. He constructed his first airplane at Windom in 1909, and many other aircraft constructed from his designs followed. As a barnstormer, he traveled the midwest in his own airplane, then instructed for the military during WWI. He gave Charles Lindbergh his first airplane ride in Nebraska. Moving to California, he continued his inventiveness, patenting the first tricycle geared transport plane, and building the all-wood Timm training plane for WWII. He finished his career constructing replicas of WWI aircraft for the Hollywood movie industry. The public is invited to participate in honoring these aviation greats at the spring induction ceremony, scheduled for April 17, 2004 at the Thunderbird (Ramada) Hotel in Bloomington, Minnesota. If you have not been on the Hall of Fame mailing list and wish to be notified of the reservation details, send a postcard or letter to Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame, P.O. Box 284, Chaska, MN 55318. Reservation materials will be sent out about January 1st. ON FINAL OCTOBER 2003 In the afternoon, free slots were awarded to Kevin Halligan and Elyce Mueller (2nd and 4th from the left in the photo above). The third seat was still open and Pat asked if they would take up the chapter Young Eagle Coordinator. The answer was “absolutely” and away we went. We were given a short briefing, buckled into our backpack parachutes, then climbed aboard. First the seat belt and shoulder harness, then came the head gear with the headset. Now the instructions. “If you hear me say “BAIL BAIL BAIL” over the intercom, you are to remove your head gear, unbuckle your shoulder harness and seat belt, then exit the aircraft. When clear of the airplane, pull the ripcord.” Then we taxied out for formation takeoff. The winds were quite high and there was a fair amount of turbulence. I thought it was mostly accountable to being in close. Talking to the pilot later I learned that formation flying is usually quite smooth, and that the high winds were causing the turbulence. The winds were 15 gusting to 25 with occasional gusts to 40. They flew in position so the wing tips were even, side to side, and the airplanes flying the wing positions kept their wings even with the elevator of the lead airplane. Elyce was in the lead plane with Kevin on the left and my plane off the right wing. The pilot of my Stearman was Travis Auke who asked me if I was enjoying the flight. My reply, “Do you really have to ask? I am overwhelmed!” This was my first ride in a biplane and my first aerobatic formation flight. Did I enjoy it? Did I ever! This is living! 4 MSP’s Spirit of St. Louis (from page 1) in the 1950s. That is when the replica was built. It began as a soundstage background mockup for use in the movie, “Spirit of St. Louis” which starred Jimmy Stewart and was released in 1957. There were one or two scenes filmed with Stewart in the cockpit. It was not one of the three flying aircraft used in the film, and so, has largely been overlooked by the historians. Following the filming, the mockup was acquired by the Tallman organization in California and there it sat until Buzz Kaplan, our Hall of Fame aviator from Owatonna, purchased it and donated it to the Minnesota Historical Society in 1985. Since the Historical Society had nowhere to display the plane, they donated it to the Metropolitan Airports Commission who had the plane dolled up and put it on display in the Minneapolis Lindbergh terminal. Fast forward to 1996. I received a call one day from Tim Anderson, Deputy MAC Director of Operations. His question, “Is there any way we can take down the ‘Spirit’ and clean it?” I didn’t have a clue, but went out to look at it and after talking it over with Anderson and some of my friends, including Chapter 25 member Jim Ladwig, Ray Rought from the Minnesota MN/DOT Aeronautics Office, Duane Jacobson from the Lindbergh Foundation, and others, we decided that if MAC could lower the plane down from the ceiling of the terminal, we surely could set up ladders and wash the grime off the surfaces. A good cleaning it hadn’t had for eleven years. (Continued from page 4) Over to Wisconsin we go. The Red Barons have two rides— mild or wild. We were about to begin the wild ride. We proceeded to dive to entry speed for a formation loop. Next was a barrel roll followed by an aileron roll, then a hammerhead turn followed by a half roll to allow a smooth reformation. I watched the throttle as we flew in formation and saw that it was usually moving to keep us in the right position. Travis was a smooth pilot as you would expect from a guy with almost 5000 hours and much of that doing aerobatics. While flying out to the aerobatic airspace, Travis positioned our aircraft out in right front to give me a better position for some pictures. After the aerobatics we headed back to the airport. As we entered the pattern, we changed to an echelon formation and then did the standard military peel-off to enter the base leg of the approach and finally landed in trail. WOW! Did I like the ride? You betcha, I’ll never forget it! We took pictures afterward as we always do for Young Eagle flights. After all, this was a Young Eagle flight for Elyce and Kevin. This was also an “Old Eagle" flight as well. No, I did not get a certificate. I don't need one, I’ll never forget! ON FINAL OCTOBER 2003 Taking down the Spirit replica for refurbishing after midnight on June19, 1998. That was approved, and so one night (in the middle of the night so it wouldn’t interfere with ticket counter passengers of Northwest Airlines,) we lowered the plane to the ticket counter floor and cleaned it. As this was going on, MAC attached a rail to the ceiling so that we could re-hang the plane from a trolley that slid along the rail and move it from the area where we cleaned it to the atrium space where it would hang afterward. That would also enable future cleanings. When we volunteers finished, the plane was chained to the dolly and hoisted overhead. During the re-hoisting, one of the plane’s landing gear wheels dropped off, and although we re-attached it, we could well see what condition the replica was in…it needed some serious rebuilding. The wings were warped, and drooped, and everything needed recovering. A year later, I got another call from Tim Anderson, “Noel, what would it take to completely refurbish the replica of the ‘Spirit,” how long would it take, what would it need, and how much would it cost?” Boy, that was a lot of questions. “I’ll try to come up with some answers and get back to you,” was my reply. Now, where do I start? I got the guys together that had helped clean the Spirit and we talked about what it needed. I knew from looking at it that it needed entirely new wings. I knew it also needed new wheels. It needed new fabric and painting. Since its silhouette was incorrect, we would probably have to rebuild the fuselage. A daunting task, but I sat down and did some calculations and came up with a budget and forwarded that to MAC, along with the assurance that I would supervise the rebuilding. I thought that would be the end of it. Nope. I got the call a few days later, “When can you start?” Our contract was open-ended because, as I had explained to them, we literally didn’t know what we were going to find inside the fuselage or wings. In (Continued on page 6) June, 1998, again in the middle 5 National Air Tour Anoka-Blaine Airport—Photos by Norm Tesmar How do we get this thing out of the terminal door? MSP’s Spirit of St. Louis (Continued from page 5) of the night, with some twenty volunteers, we took down the Spirit, removed the wings, and began the procedure. The act of getting out of the doors of the terminal was a huge problem. The doors had been re-framed since the plane was hung in 1985 and the clearance was ¼” less than the total height of the airplane. We sawed off the tailskid, and pushed and squeezed the plane most of the way through. One small aluminum trim piece on the door frame prevented the final birthing of the Spirit to the outside world. With a mighty heave, we bent the aluminum lip just enough to spring the Spirit loose. The MAC maintenance person assisting us told us that they would simply straighten that out later. We strapped everything to a couple trailers and carted the works to the Air Guard Museum across the field, where it would be refurbished. I had talked the Guard Museum board, of which I was a member, into allowing us to use half of one of their hangars for the job. So, with flashing lights and much fanfare, we drove across the runways to the Museum and stashed the parts inside. Over the next few weeks we would find out what we had to do. Before we could start, however, with winter coming, we had to build a room inside the hangar in which we could work in shirtsleeves through the winter. Museum volunteers joined our work force to spend the next month of Wednesday evenings and Saturdays erecting a wood-framed room, which we covered with plastic. We brought in a kerosene heater and a large propane heater to get the room toasty warm even in the middle of the winter, and we began to take things apart. What we found was totally amazing. The replica was built of wood, with everything fastened together with hot glue! There was not a nut, bolt, nail, or screw in the entire thing. Slabs of plywood were glued to 2 x 2s for the fuselage, wing struts and landing gear struts were 2x4s and 2x6s, the wings had one 2x4 spar, fragile, non-load bearing ribs, no drag wires or compression ribs. The muslin fabric had been brush painted. The landing gear had been created with 2x4s glued together and shaped like wheels, heavier than the dickens. The most ON FINAL OCTOBER 2003 interesting thing was the replica engine, which looked terrific, even though it was made out of wooden parts. We knew that this would be a huge undertaking, but my crew stood by and vowed they would see it through. I hooked up with Ken Rovie, former Northern Airmotive employee, who had been in on the original dolling up when the plane was hung for the first time in 1985. He became the work foreman, and he and I plotted a plan of attack. Bob Hearn, Duane Jacobson, Jim Ladwig, Bruce McCutcheon, and John Moses would be steadfast workers. Others would stop in to help on occasion. One night I got a call from a gal, Arlene Cowles, who volunteered to work with us, just because she wanted something interesting to do. The plan was to get the plane refurbished in a year and a half, and get it re-hung within the budget I had set up. Continued next month... 6 Chapter Events and Fly-Ins MATA Convention at Embassy Oct 15 Chapter 25 Meeting 6:00p Suites. Tesa 952/944-7666 Chapter Hangar Airlake Apt (p3) Nov 15 Tea SD (Y14) Nov 16 Annual Awards Banquet $15/plate @ Eagan Community Ctr. Ch 289 Pncke Bkfst 605/339-0242 Dec 6 CottageGrove Wi(87Y) 11-2p See directions on p. 3 Chili Feed Fly-In 608/273-2586 Future meetings 11/19, 12/17, Dec 8 Oshkosh Wi(OSH) 1/21, 2/18, 3/17, 4/21 EAA Museum Annual Open House Dec 20 Tea SD (Y14) Oct 13 Janesville Wi(JVL) 8a-12p Ch 289 Pncke Bkfst 605/339-0242 Flyin bkfst, carshow 608/373-0904 Jan 17 Marshfield Wi(MFI)10a-2p Oct 15-19 Tullahoma Tn Chili Feed Ski/Wheel-plane Fly-in Beech Party 2003: 931/455-1974 & Yng. Eagle rides 715/687-4120 Oct 18 Superior Wi(SUW) 8a-3p Mar 6 Superior Wi(DYT) 10a-? Ch 272 Open house, bkfst, lunch, So. Harbor Apt Ski-plane Fly-in rummage sale Tom 218/525-6561 Buffalo Stew. Julius 218/723-4880 Oct 18 Tea SD (Y14) July 27-Aug 2 Oshkosh Wi (OSH) Ch 289 Pncke Bkfst 605/339-0242 EAA Airventure 2004 Oct 23-24 Bloomington Mn Welcome New Members! Rich Klepperich Michael Wallace Timothy Wallace Andy Hutchinson Corey Weaver Bob Boyce Wayne Camp Earl Jensen Jack Shaul Gregg Boysen Anthony Lavelle Charles Liane Brent Behn Richard Paige Louis Martin Stuff for Sale/Wanted Wanted: Piper J3, PA11, 12, or 18. Contact Jan Berghoff, 952-361-9787 or email [email protected] _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ For Sale: Welding Outfit includes 2 medium size tanks over half full, torch, gauge, and extra tips, all on a welding cart. Ken Hanson 952-920-8031 _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ For Sale: Singer 31-15 upholstery sewing mach., straight stitch model, no reverse etc. on modern commercial base with knee clutch, foot speed, etc. Works fine. Price negotiable. Lee Hurry, Hopkins. 952-938-7856 _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ For Rent: Trailer for hauling cars etc. It is available for a $25 tax deductible donation to Chapter 25. Mike Dolan 952-652-2436, [email protected] _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ For Sale: Lycoming O-235C, 0 SMO, no accessories, all logs. $4900. John Curry 952/983-0742 _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ For Sale: Glider tow hook for installation on tailspring. Also 62-29 VW prop, beautiful for plane or den, $300, plus numerous new/used gauges. Bert Sisler 952-884-8920 _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ For Sale: one yellow tagged engine mount for a 1977 Decathlon. Mark Kolesar H 763-544-6766, W 612-371-5171. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ For Sale: 150 Lycoming exhaust system from Beech Musketeer—$200 Folding bike for aircraft travel, new—$200 Cape Canaveral 6’x4’ drafting table w/drafting machine—$300 Roger at Benson Airport 651-429-0315 _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ For Sale: 1971 Piper Cherokee 140, white with red trim, high time engine, annual-ed August 2002, compression 78 to 80 on all cylinders, Navcoms are 4 years old, not IFR, asking $25K, I can send you a picture. Roger Steiner, [email protected] ____________________________________________________________ AOPA Pilot Town Meeting Thursday, October 16, 7:30 pm - FREE Wyndham Minneapolis Hotel 4460 W. 78th Street Circle, Bloomington, MN Access is on the No. Frontage Rd. along I-494 between France and Hwy 100. The Wyndham is behind Stuart Anderson's Cattle Co. One Low Price. Plain and simple. Always! Apple Valley Ford Apple Ford of Shakopee (952) 431-5900 (952) 445-2420 Chapter 25 GP-4 Project For Sale With the GP-4 winning grand champion at OSH this year, we have decided now is the time to sell our GP-4 project. We currently have an offer of $1000 and we will post this project for sale on Ebay Oct. 28th at 8 p.m. It will have a minimum bid of $1100.00 and run for one week. All materials in excellent condition. Workbench included. The high quality work already completed will give the buyer a real head start on this project. Contact a Chapter officer if you are interested. For more information on this project, see http://ourworld.cs.com/frankhanish/gp-4/ Right: Grand Champion Plans Built GP-4 at Oshkosh, 2003. Our plans are the same, and the fuselage and tail feathers are well underway, with top quality workmanship throughout. ON FINAL OCTOBER 2003 7 Thank You Chapter 25 Sponsors! Ron Hansen 22100 Hamburg Ave. Lakeville, MN 55044 Office 952.469.4414 Cell 612.940.3570 Experience a Virtual Tour at: www.airovation.com CONTINENTAL LYCOMING Bolduc Aviation Specialized Services, Inc. ANOKA COUNTY AIRPORT 8891 AIRPORT ROAD MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55449 DARRELL E. BOLDUC PRESIDENT (763) 780-1185 “SPECIALIZING IN ENGINE REBUILDING AND REPAIR” ON FINAL OCTOBER 2003 8